While the US Fed cut key interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, Jerome Powell made a couple of remarks that affected the entire crypto market in a very negative way.
The central bank president warned that rate cuts for 2025 could be smaller after three in a row at the end of 2024 and warned that the US is “not allowed to own bitcoins”, despite Donald Trump’s promise to explore how the country could put BTC. on its balance sheet.
Riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies reacted with immediate and violent price drops. Bitcoin, for example, fell from over $105,000 to below $99,000 for the first time since December 11. Losses extend to nearly ten thousand compared to Tuesday afternoon’s high of over $108,000.
Altcoins, however, were hit even harder. Many plummeted by double digits from top to bottom, including XRP, DOGE, AVAX, PEPE, LTC, and LINK.
Interestingly, Santiment weighed in on the correction and described the bottom four as the potential beneficiaries if the Fed-induced decline was a market overreaction.
“If it really was an overreaction, there’s a reasonable chance that the projects with the biggest drops are the ones worth taking the biggest buying chances,” the tweet reads.
After the FOMC interest rate cuts, both crypto and stock traders felt a bit worried. Not because of current cuts, but because of Jerome Powell’s 2025 projection of half the expected rate cuts.
Altcoins in particular have achieved… pic.twitter.com/LVR2oIvCRu
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 19, 2024
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